


Under a White Flag

by DKGwrites



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Domestic Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, F/F, Married Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, Parents Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, SuperCorp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-16
Updated: 2017-08-16
Packaged: 2018-12-16 07:16:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11823822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DKGwrites/pseuds/DKGwrites
Summary: Twelve years in the future, Kara Luthor and Lena Luthor drive out to an annual meeting under an accord of peace.  As always, family is a complicated endeavor.





	1. Luthors

**Author's Note:**

> In Hugo Grotius’s De jure belli ac pacis, an extremely influential text about international law, in 1625, he described the use of riding out under a white flag as “a tacit sign of demanding a parley, and shall be as obligatory, as if expressed by words.”

The black BMW drove slowly down the winding road, the sun streaming in through the driver’s side.  Lena flipped one of her visors around, blocking out the light that was slipping past her sunglasses.  She rolled her shoulders, trying to relax.  When a strong yet gentle hand reached across from the passenger’s side and gripped her knee, she smiled despite this situation.

“How are you feeling?” Kara asked.

Lena nodded her response, the small smile still on her face.

“How’s the nausea?” Came Kara’s second question.

Her eyes flicking to the mirror that gave her a view of the backseat, Lena made a tiny noise then said, “Same as always about the point.  Not too bad.”  She paused, asking the question she’d been avoiding.  “How are you, all things considered?”

“It’s fine hun.”

“You don’t have to go with us you know.”

Kara chuckled, but it was not with humor.  “By Rao, there is no way you three are going here without me.  You know that, don’t you?”

“Darling, we’re not in any danger.  If there were—”

Kara’s voice was a touch sharp.  “Then why are Maggie and Alex ten minutes ahead in an SUV?”

Even without looking, Lena could feel Kara’s eyes practically burning into her.  The question was an accusation.  They had a fairly idyllic life, even with Kara’s Supergirl duties, except for this one issue, this one annual issue.  It had taken a lot of convincing on Lena’s part to ever allow for these meetings to occur.  Still, even though this had helped, it hadn’t put an end to the threat.  Lena thought what Kara really hated was inaction, and today would feel like hours of inaction to Kara.  To Lena, it felt like hours of negotiation, and she understood negotiation. 

Exhaling slowly, Lena smiled to keep the smile in her voice as she said, “Precautions are never a bad decision.  There is no need to rush into things.  You know that.”

“Are you saying I rush into things?” Kara grumbled.

“Seriously Kara?” Lena couldn’t resist casting a sideways glance at Kara this time.  “That is the opposite of what I just…I’m not fighting with you today.”

“I wasn’t fighting with you either,” Kara replied.

“It sure sounds like you two are fighting,” came a young female voice from the backseat.

“They’re fighting?” Came an even younger male voice.  “Are you fighting?”

“No,” Kara said, unbuckling and turning in her seat so she could look into the back.  “Mom and I are just…discussing something.  We’re not fighting.  We don’t fight.”

With a snort, the young girl of maybe eight flipped her black hair with one hand.  Her blue eyes sparkled as she raised one eyebrow and smirked.  “Mama, please.  We may be young, but we’re not stupid.  We also have really good hearing.”  Her smile grew.  “ **Super** good hearing.”

“Don’t do that Lorelei,” Lena warned from the front seat though her eyes stayed on the road.

“Yes, Lorelei, we don’t do that,” the little boy of maybe four next to her said with a nod.  He looked quite serious, curly blond hair bouncing while he peered at her with intent green eyes.

His sister just snorted again.  “You’re a Mommy’s boy, Liam.  You don’t even know what I did.”

Brows pressed together until a crinkle formed, he thought for a moment until he finally said, “Something wrong, and we have a responsibility to be good.”

“Oh, Rao,” Lorelei said as she slumped back into her seat.  “Have you two been given this kid the Kool-Aid after I go to bed?”

“Hey, Lori, look at me.  Look at me,” Kara urged again.  “What’s going on today?  I thought you liked these visits.”

Meeting Kara’s eyes, the young girl shrugged.  Her mouth was tight and slightly turned down at the sides though.  There was a sad cast to the blue eyes, and the sass that had just been present was suddenly gone.

“Lori.”

At the sound of Lena’s voice, the girl looked up and met the woman’s gaze in the mirror.

“Did you see something on the news?  We’ve spoken about you watching—”

Head shaking, Lori held Lena’s gaze.  “I didn’t watch the news.  I know the rules but…” Tearing her eyes away from those green ones that held her with such intensity, she finally said, “Mellie brought in a video to school and it—”

“Ugh, Melanie,” Lena said.

At the same time, Kara said, “Here we go.”

“Mellie’s my friend!” Lori defended.

“Melanie Everman is Melanie’s friend,” Lena said, eyes back on the road.

“Look, Lori,” Kara gently smiled as she spoke in a gentle tone.  “We know you see Mellie as an underdog and have gone out of your way to defend her.  That’s very admirable.  It’s important that you want to defend people that are in need of help.  That’s who this family is.  That’s who you are.  Mellie though…Mellie is…”

“Manipulative,” Lena suggested.

“Well, she certainly seems able to find things that upset you even though she brings them to you and says she’s curious or trying to be a good friend,” Kara continued.

“She is a good friend,” Lori said again.

“When you came home after seeing that video about Uncle Lex attacking Kal and Metropolis, who was it that found that and brought it to you?”

“Melanie,” Lena supplied before Lori could say anything.

“And when you came home crying about Aunt Maggie being so awful, who was it that dug up that old video of Mom being arrest by Aunt Maggie a dozen years ago?”

“Melanie,” Lena answered again.

“And that day we got the call from the school because you were locked in the private bathroom, who was it that—?”

“Okay, all right already!” Lori yelled, punching the car door and making them lurch slightly.

Lena corrected quickly, and they stayed on the road with ease.  She pushed a button on the steering wheel, and it brought up a display on the dash.  She checked the readout, nodding once, then pushed the button on the wheel again making the display disappear.

“Any damage?” Kara asked.

“None.  The absorption system handled that little shock easily.  However, the driver would appreciate it if everyone would control their tempers,” Lena commented.

“Sorry Mommy,” Lori mumbled, her head down.

“Yes Lori, control your temper,” Liam mimicked.

“Hey buddy, thank you for your help, but you are not a mom.  Why don’t you let the parents handle this?  Play on your tablet, okay?” Kara suggested.

“Okay, Mama,” Liam said with a bright smile as he lifted the tablet up and returned to a game where he had to pop just the balloons that had prime numbers.

“So, want to talk to us about what you saw?” Kara asked gently.  “We don’t need to get into who showed it to you or why.  We’re just worried about what you’re feeling, sweetie.  We’re worried about you.”

Sucking in her bottom lip, Lori seemed to be considering that before she nodded and said, “I saw a video.  It was old new footage.  It had…well, both of you were in it and…”

“And?” Kara said with an encouraging smile.  “No one will be mad at you sweetie.  We’re here to listen.”

“Even though it was on the news?  Mom says not to watch the news.  I wasn’t really watching.  This was an old news thing.  It wasn’t you in a fight or something.”

Kara nodded and smiled, reaching back and squeezing her daughter’s hand.  “I promise.”

“It was about…Medusa.”

There was a sharp intake of breath from Lena, but she said nothing.  She gripped the steering wheel tightly, knuckles going white at the tops with red bands along the sides from her intensity.  That was a name best lost to the ages.

With a quiet clearing of her voice, Kara’s attempt to adjust non-existent glasses changed into one hand brushing through her blonde hair.  “Do you mean the Medusa Virus?” She asked in a tone that surprised even her in its gentleness.  When Lori nodded quickly, blue eyes wide with concern, Kara managed to say, “Oh.”

“Right,” Lena sighed.  “Medusa, that is a complicated subject.”

“Complicated is parent code,” Lori came back.

“Usually,” Lena admitted with a chuckle.

“She’s your child,” Kara mumbled, turning sideways in her seat to face the driver.

“Why is she always my child lately and Liam is your boy?” Lena asked, glancing over at Kara with veiled eyes.

“Because she’s always difficult lately and he’s still easy.  In a few years, they’ll both be yours.”

“She’s not difficult, Kara, she’s challenging.  You and I, we both love a challenge, don’t we?” Lips curled up; her gaze met her daughters again.

“I’m both,” Lori admitted, arms crossed over her chest and a bit of her earlier attitude returning,

“That, see, that,” Kara said, spinning in the seat again and pointing at Lori.  “That is more than a challenge.  That is…it’s…”

“Actually, I think that’s the very definition of a challenge,” Lena said.  “You just need to stop rising to the bait.  You do realize we’ve got years to go until the teen hormones kick in.  That will be pleasant, won’t it?”

“Yes!” Liam yelled.  When everyone looked, he was just staring at his tablet, tapping in commands and grinning to himself.

“Something good happen, buddy?” Kara asked.

“I beat the level, Mama,” Liam replied with smiling.  “Are we going for ice cream later?”

“Uh, does a bear poop in the woods?” Kara replied with an easy grin.

His brows pressed together again, he looked up at Kara and seemed to study her for a moment before he replied, “A bear in the woods does.”

“Rao,” Kara said as she slumped into her seat again, her head lolling to the side so she could look over at Lena.  “What do you do to these children while I’m off saving the world?”

“I teach them critical thinking skills.  It’s something sorely lacking in society today,” Lena replied, one eyebrow high in a challenge.

Clearing her throat, Lori waited until Kara turned to face her again and said, “The Medusa Virus, can we talk about it?”

With a sigh, Kara replied, “You know your Mom wasn’t involved in that at all right?  It was just the opposite, actually.  Your Mom saved everyone, all the aliens.  It was one of the first things she did to prove exactly the kind of the person she was.  She shouldn’t have had to prove anything, but—”

“Why didn’t you take the name Danvers when you got married, Mom?” Lori asked suddenly.

“I…well…”

“What’s wrong with the last name Luthor?” Kara asked in turn while Lena searched for a response.  “I’m proud to be Kara Luthor.  I’m proud of everything your mom has done, and the Luthor name has done since she’s come to National City.  The Luthor name means Luthor Children’s Hospital, Luthor Non-Indigenous Lifeform Hospital, Luthor Woman’s Shelter, Luthor Non-Indigenous Lifeform Scholarship, Luthor Library, Luthor—”

“Yes, Mom’s a saint,” Lori said before Kara could build up any more steam.  “All of those things could be done in the Danvers’ name and then we’d still be philanthropists but without the bad history. Wouldn’t that have made more sense?”

“Philanthropists?” Kara said with a long whistle.  “Wow, five dollar word there, kiddo.  I guess that fancy private school is really paying off.”

“Are we changing the subject?” Lori asked.

“There, there it is again,” Kara said pointing at Lori but looking at Lena.  “Your child.”

“Well…yes,” Lena admitted.  “She’ll be ruthless in the boardroom.  I’m looking forward to an early retirement.”  Clearing her throat, Lena glanced briefly back at her daughter through the mirror then said, “Lori, our family’s past is there.  We’re not running from it.  No one can change the past.  Don’t correct me, Kara,” she added quickly with a finger waggle that made the Kryptonian close her mouth with an audible snap.  “We don’t live in the past though.  We don’t dwell there.  We learn from it.  We move forward from it.  We never forget it, and we live in the present with an eye toward the future.  Our future, this family’s future, is better because we will never forget the past.  If people think they can upset us by reminding us of our history, then they are sadly mistaken.  That history is our power.  Our family’s failures are the roots of many of our successes.  Does that make sense?”

“I…” Shrugging, Lori replied, “I’m not sure.  Bad stuff happening is good stuff somehow?”

“Hey, sweetie, do you ever beat Mom at chess?” Kara asked.

“No,” Lori replied with a glower.  “I’m getting really good too.  No one at school can beat me, not even the older kids.  You know, I bet other kids’ parents let them win.”

“They’re not Luthors,” Lena replied casually.

“I’m a Luthor,” Liam said not looking up, then laughing as he cleared a level on his game.

“Yes you are, buddy,” Kara told her son.  “Lori, do you ever beat me at chess?”

“You?” Lori snorted.

“That noise is really unattractive, you know?” Kara commented.

“You’re easy, Mama.  I mean, you’re a good chess player when you want to be, but you’re so impatient.  All I have to do is take my time, and you get distracted.  So long as we don’t use a timer, you’re easy to beat.”

“She’s right Kara,” Lena agreed.

“Hey, I beat you once,” Kara said to Lena.

“Once.”

“Yes, but it happened.  It happened on August 13, 2026.  See, it’s here on my calendar.” Kara pulled out her phone, going to the calendar function and scrolling back years to the date.  “Here, right here.  See, it says I beat you and even the final move.”

The look Lena shot at her wife clearly would have lasted longer and possibly been fatal even to a Kryptonian if she didn’t need to keep her eyes on the road.  “You still have that on your phone?”

“I’ll always have this on my phone.”

“I had a cold that day you know.  I was off.”

“I won.  I have pictures of the board too you know.  Do you want to see pictures?  Do you kids what to see pictures?” Kara offered.

“Mama, we’ve seen the slide show,” Lori replied while Liam nodded.  “Does this explain why Mom didn’t change her name to Danvers when you two got married, or are you trying to change the subject again?”

“Oh, no it’s on topic,” Kara promised as she put her phone away.  “So if your mom just let you win, you wouldn’t have learned much.  You’ve learned more from losing to her than you have from beating me.”

“Except that you’re easily distracted and wander off on tangents easily,” Lena murmured.

Ignoring her wife, Kara continued, “Your mom is teaching you when she beats you.  She’s teaching you how she beat you and how to win against that, and you’re using it to defeat others.  When you win against me, you don’t learn much.  The Luthor name has done a lot for us too.  We don’t want to run away from what happened.  We want to learn from it.  Does that help sweetie?”

When Lori sat pensively, Lena added, “The examined remains of our defeat are the foundations of our future victories.”

“Who are you quoting?” Lori asked.

“Myself, darling,” Lena replied with one lifted brow as she met her daughters gaze in the mirror.  “If you’re going to quote someone, always go for the best.”

“Plus the Luthor name is synonymous with humility,” Kara quipped.

“What’s humility?” Liam asked, still not looking up from his tablet.

“Really!?” Kara pointed back and forth between her children.  “You’re teaching them chess and critical thinking, and they don’t know the word—?” When both children started to laugh, Kara deflated.  “They’re ganging up on us.”

“Oh definitely,” Lena agreed. “How do you think I feel when it’s just them and me, and you’re off glory hounding for the press and ignoring your parental responsibilities?”

“Oh, is that what I’m doing?” Kara replied with a smirk.  “So when I catch a plane that is falling from the sky or save people from a burning building, I’m off having fun?”

“Absentee parent,” Liam said still playing with his tablet.

Everyone was suddenly quiet, Lori and Kara turning to look at him, and Lena’s gaze shooting through the mirror toward the boy though he still didn’t look up.

Looking over at Kara, Lena said, “I swear to God, Kara, I have never, ever, said anything like that in front of the children.  You know I respect and believe in what you do.  We spoke about this before we started a family and—”

Nodding, Kara squeezed Lena’s wrist, though the crinkle was present between the blonde’s brows.  “Hey, buddy, Liam, what is that about absentee parents?” Kara asked cautiously.

“My friend Eric says his mom says his dad is an absentee parent.  I don’t know what that is, but I know you’re a parent, and I know sometimes you’re absent because you have to save people’s lives.  I know Mom misses you and gets worried sometimes, but she’s real proud of you.” Finally looking up from his tablet, Liam’s brows pushed together as he asked, “Do you think Eric’s dad is a superhero too?”

With a tiny laugh, Kara nodded and said, “Ah…possibly.  You know how important our secret identities are to us superheroes, right?  That’s why you can’t tell anyone about us.  You know what happens if anyone finds out, right?”

Nodding quickly with a serious expression on his face, Liam replied, “We have to move to the DEO with Uncle J’onn and Aunt M’gann.  I like them even though they make weird faces and stare at me sometimes.  Mom says there’s no ice cream at the DEO.”  Taking a deep breath, Liam closed his eyes before letting the breath out, his eyes opening as he stared intently at Kara.  “I really, really like ice cream.”

Chuckling, Lena said, “I think it’s safe to say that one will always be yours.”

Reaching back and ruffling her son’s hair, Kara said, “I think you’re right.  How about—”

_“Kara.”_

Touching her earpiece, the blonde replied, “Update me, Alex.”

_“The area is secure.  Maggie and I are placing the perimeter now.  We’ll be ready for you in two minutes.”_

“I’ll let the family know,” Kara replied, then added, “Alex says they’re secure there.  She and Maggie are putting down the security field and will be ready for us in two minutes.”

“We’ll be there in four,” Lena replied.

“Four minutes, Alex,” Kara replied.  “Any surprises on your end?”

_“Just like last time.  It’s starting to get boring, not that I’m complaining.  I’m getting old.  I could use boring.”_

As the signaled clicked off in her ear, Kara, smirked and said, “My sister just admitted to getting old.”

“Impossible,” Lena replied.  “Alex Danvers would not allow old age to affect her.  I’m fairly certain she could threaten it away.”

“Aunt Alex is a bad ass,” Liam said, still playing with his tablet.

“Ooooohhhh,” Lori said, then bit her lower lip.  She whispered, “I am so glad I didn’t say that, and I’m so glad that he did.”

Turning and slumping in her seat, Kara let out a moan.  “I cannot deal with this today.  Lena?”

“Oh, that one isn’t mine.  He’s yours, remember?”  She looked at Kara briefly, a familiar smirk on her lips as she raised one eyebrow.  “Anyway, your sister is a bad ass.”


	2. Family

The barrier shone, glimmering in the morning light.  Each spike set into the ground sent a signal to the next until they completed the circuit.  Energy went around and up, arching over the area.  Under the ground, a similar power surged making a full orb.  There would be no surprises at this meeting.

As the BMW appeared down the road from the barrier, a wave of energy suddenly engulfed it.  A barrier of energy covered it, one that matched the dome barrier’s energy signature exactly.  The BMW continued forward, driving through the dome barrier as if it didn’t exist.  As it stopped on the other side within the dome barrier, the energy covering the BMW dissipated. 

 “Okay, I’m going to get a quick update, and then I’ll come back, same as usual,” Kara said opening a panel on the top of the car and grabbing her glasses from within.  She snapped it closed with one hand and put on her glasses with the other.  “I’ll just be a few minutes.  Any questions?”

Blue and green eyes stared back at her as the children’s heads shook.

“Great,” Kara said with a smile.  “I love you all.”

“Love you Mama,” Liam said.

“We love you too Mama,” Lori said.

Leaning toward her wife, Lena tugged on Kara’s wrist, urging the other woman closer.  “I love you, Kara.  Thank you for today.”

Though her brows pressed together displaying a look of uncertainty, Kara nodded and pressed a kiss to her wife’s mouth.  Quickly her lips curled into a smile, and she could feel that smile returned on Lena’s full lips.

“Ugh, get a room,” Lori said.

Turning to face her daughter, Lena pushed up one of her eyebrows with a touch of parental discipline, though the smile remained on her face.  “Mind your own business, you.”

“And on that note, I’ll be back in a bit,” Kara said as she exited the car.

The other SUV was maybe forty feet away.  Though Kara could have cleared that distance in seconds, she strolled there at a normal human pace.  Even with today’s stress, the smile came to her face easily as she looked at the people standing near the vehicle.  As she got closer, people looked at her, smiling in return and waving slightly.  Her sister walked up, greeting her first.

“Hey, how you doing?” Kara asked, enveloping her sister in a hug.

“Great, just great,” Alex replied, squeezing Kara fiercely as she knew she couldn’t hurt her sister.  “We missed you last weekend.”

Kara laughed, giving her sister one final squeeze before stepping back.  “You mean the twins missed Lori and Liam.”

“No, well, yes, but I also missed my little sister.  The cousins always miss each other,” Alex agreed with a broad smile.  “You all enjoy your vacation?”

“It was nice to get away for the weekend,” Kara agreed as she fiddled a bit with her glasses.  “I appreciate J’onn and M’gann covering for me.  Hey, is that a new gray hair?” Kara asked, playing with some of her sister’s strands.

“Leave off!” Alex slapped Kara’s hand away, making the blonde laugh.  “Damn Kryptonian DNA.  You could at least dye a few of them gray for us one day, you know.  You should look like you’re getting older, right?”  When Kara just grinned, Alex asked, “How’s Lena feeling?”

“Fine, she says she…” As the other two people approached from the front of the SUV, one proceeding the other, Kara’s smile grew.  “Hey!”

“Hey SL,” Maggie said, throwing her arms around Kara and squeezing.  “We missed you last weekend.”

“I’ve been told.  Sorry, Captain, but we already had the vacation scheduled, and it was sort of a public appearance for us too.  We need to be out and be seen, you know?”

“I get it,” Maggie replied with a laugh as she stepped back from the hug.  “Come by this weekend, and we’ll celebrate?  I’ve got a bottle of Aldebaran Rum with your name on it.”

“Aldebaran Rum?” Kara laughed in return.  “You do remember that Lena made me sleep at your place the last time I got drunk, don’t you?”

“Hey, it’s not my fault you started reciting Kryptonian love poetry to her or whatever that was.  However, the videos are glorious.  You’re just lucky you were floating around and speaking a different language, or that gay shit would be on every social media site ever,” Maggie threatened.

“Hey!” Clearing her throat, Kara wiggled her jaw back and forth and said, “That wasn’t all Kryptonian.  I do speak several other languages that aren’t native to this planet.  Man, I was so confused when I woke up on your couch the next day, then horrified when I saw that video.  I’m lucky Lena let me come home at all after that debacle.  I think I better check with the Mrs. before I have any Aldebaran Rum.”

“Whipped,” Maggie said while pretending to cough.

“What kind of rum?” Jeremiah asked as he stepped up to Kara.

“Maggie is just doing her best to get Kara in trouble again.  Feel free to ignore her, Kara.  That’s what I do,” Alex said.

“Hi, Jeremiah,” Kara said, hugging the man.  “Sorry we missed you last weekend.  We knew we’d be seeing you today and at your normal monthly trips.  How are things?”

“Fine sweetie,” Jeremiah replied.  “I’m doing well.  How are you and the family?”

“Great as always.  How are things with your work?  Are things any better?” Kara probed.

Jeremiah shrugged.  “We talk.  She listens.  I haven’t seen any vast leaps in doctrine recently, but she spends more and more time with me on a personal basis.  She wants to see pictures of the kids, videos from parties, things like that.  We sit and talk almost every day, mainly about the time I spend with the family.  She’s envious.  It’s obvious.  She still believes in the work we do, but she envies me.  What we’re doing here, it’s making a difference.”

Brows furrowed, Kara nodded for a moment.  “You still think this is safe?”

“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.  I’d never put my grandchildren in jeopardy.  Everything I’ve done has been for you and Alex and now your kids, your families,” Jeremiah promised.

Looking over at Alex, Kara took a moment to meet her sister’s gaze then nodded before looking back to Jeremiah and saying, “I’ll go get the kids.  They’re looking forward to seeing you.”

Kara’s stroll back to the BMW was as leisurely as the walk from it.  She knew her family would be anxious, but they had the day to spend here.  She also knew that normal human movements were important.

Opening the car door, she slid into the passenger seat again and looked back at her kids saying, “Grandpa Jeremiah is asking about you two.  You kids ready?”

“Yeah!” The kids responded in unison, both smiling.

“Okay, what’s the rule when we’re not in the house or the car?” Kara asked.

Both kids grabbed their glasses from the backs of the seats ahead of them, putting them on wordlessly.

“Good work,” Kara said with a broad smile.  “It can get pretty loud in the outside world when you aren’t expecting it.  Now come on.  Let’s go see Grandpa and Aunt Maggie and Aunt Alex.”

As Lena got out of the car, her gaze fell on Liam who was moving hurriedly, and her words froze in his tracks. “Remember, stay with us.”

Liam nodded, his backpack on his back as his hand extended to meet his Mom’s.  Together they walked in front of the car to meet Kara and Lori.  Kara and Lena joined hands, and the family made their way to the SUV and the rest of their family.

“There are my kiddos!” Jeremiah said with great enthusiasm as he knelt on one knee, his arms extended.

“Gentle kids,” Kara reminded her children as she and Lena released their children’s hands and the kids surged toward their grandfather with perhaps a touch more strength than seemed natural.

Head shaking, Alex grinned.  “You know, one day your kids are going to send someone to the hospital with their affection.  They’re like you, Kara.”

“We work on gentle hands.  We work on it a lot,” Kara argued.

“Obviously, because no one has been hospitalized yet,” Maggie said.

“Well, not by the kids.  The same can’t be said of Kara’s love.”  Arms crossed, Alex smirked.

“Hold on a moment, is Kara really the only one in this family of whom that statement can be made?” Lena asked.

Alex and Lena stared each other down for a moment.  Then they both looked over at Maggie.  After a few seconds, all four women started to laugh.

“Well, it’s certainly a good thing we all found each other,” Lena noted.

“Yeah, we might have killed normal people,” Maggie added.

More hugs were shared as Lena had been added to the group.  As Alex stepped away, she said to Lena, “So, we haven’t seen you down at the DEO in a while.”

“Well, I’ve been busy.”

“I get that, but you need to make time to come down.”

“Yes, but—”

“That’s not a suggestion, Lena,” Alex interrupted.  “Feel free to take it as an order.  I need you to come down.  Send me your availability, and I’ll meet you in medical.”

Taking a step back, Lena asked, “You’re ordering me now, Director?”

“If that’s what it’s going to take to get you down there, then yes I am.  You gave up your civilian consultant status when the kids came along, though you are the exception to a hell of a lot of rules, woman.  So as your superior—”

“My superior?” Eyebrows high and arms crossed, Lena stared wordlessly at her sister-in-law, but The Luthor could say a lot when she said nothing at all.

Hand facing herself, Maggie waved Kara nearer.  “Kid, come here.  You’re in the life of fire.  Get clear.”

“I…I um….eh…” Hand to her glasses, Kara scooted to the side and moved away from her wife and sister.  Though Supergirl had been defined as invulnerable, Kara didn’t happen to feel that way especially if there were a battle of wills going on between the people she loved.

After several seconds of staring back at Lena, Alex dropped her head and sighed loudly before lifting her face to her sister-in-law again.  “Oh, for God’s sake, Lena, come on.  Come down to the DEO.  Please?  I’ll call Eliza.  We’ll make sure everything is all right, then get some healthy ass food.  What do you say?  Pretty please?”

Slowly, a smile formed as green eyes twinkled in victory.  “There now was that so hard, Alex?”

“Actually, yes, yes it was.  If you ever tell anyone you made me say please, let alone pretty please, I’ll…okay, I can’t actually hurt you, but trust that something awful in the way of payback will happen.  Do you trust me?”

“In every possible way,” Lena said stepping in and hugging Alex again.  “I love you, Alex.”

Smiling and returning the hug, Alex said, “I love you too, Sis.”

The family remained together, chatting and smiling, laughing on and off for the next half an hour or so.  Jeremiah had a great time playing with his grandchildren.  Though it was clear it tired him, he tossed them on his back and ran with them.  He tossed them in the air.  Parents and aunts alike stood on with smiles.  So much had changed in their lives in the past dozen years.  Some might have seen what they didn’t have, but to some degree, life had made optimists of these people.  They had lost so much and had so much more now than they thought they ever would have.  Perspective was a wonderful gift.

When Lena squeezed her hand, Kara nodded, her lips twisting.  “Okay, kids.  I bet you’re hungry.  Let’s go get the picnic basket from the car.”

“Do we have cake?” Liam asked racing over to his Mama.

“Hey.”  Kneeling down, Jeremiah held his arms out.  “Can I get one more squeeze?”

Smiling brightly, Liam ran back toward his grandfather.

“Gently!” Kara and Lena shouted at the same time.

“Oof!” Jeremiah said as Liam connected, but he kept his footing.  His eyes going back and forth between Kara and Lena, he shook his head slightly, gently asking them not to discipline the boy.

Arms crossed, Lena looked toward Kara.  Though on most things they split parenting duties, she did allow her wife to take the lead on this subject when present.  Kara had lived this and knew far better how do deal with it.

Nodding at Jeremiah, Kara held out her hand to her son and said, “Okay, let’s go, buddy.”

As Liam joined his Mama, Lori walked over and gave her grandfather a much gentler hug.  The family of four gave their extended family waves and well wishes, passing along their love and promises to see everyone the next weekend.  Together, mothers and children headed back to the BMW at a normal clip again.

Clearing her throat, Kara shook her head and narrowed her eyes at her wife when she noticed Lena looking off and to the right.

“What?”

“Don’t ‘what?’ me.  We all stay together.  You don’t go anyplace without me,” Kara replied.

Holding up their joined hands, Lena said, “Kara, we’re literally holding hands, and you’re Supergirl.  Do you think I have a piece of Kryptonite hidden in a lead box on my person that I plan to use to escape you?”

Sliding her glasses down her nose, Lori looked over the frames as she examined her mother up and down and then said, “She doesn’t.”

“Stop that,” Lena hissed.  “Not today, young lady.  You know the rules.”

Sighing, Kara said, “I’m just worried.  I’m a worrier, especially right now.”  As Kara released Lena’s hand, she popped the trunk of the car and pulled out the picnic basket. 

Lena put her hand on the Kryptonian’s forearm.  “Darling, I won’t ask you not to worry.  That’s as much a part of your DNA as flying.  Just know I’m in no more danger than I was a year or two ago.  I’m in less with every year that passes.  Also, I’m not going to take any chances no matter the level of that risk.”

“Well, that’s not true,” Kara said as she shut the trunk with perhaps a bit too much force.  “You are less risk adverse than when I met you, but you’ve always taken chances.  That was one of the first things I said to you, and do you know what you told me?”

“I don’t recall,” Lena replied dismissively.

“You said you couldn’t live in fear.”

“Oh, that.”

“Are they fighting again?” Liam asked.

“We’re not…” Kara sighed.  “No, buddy.  Mom and I are just going over the rules for today together, just like we go over them with you.”

“Mom knows the rules, but thank you for the reminder, Kara.  Shall we all go?” Lena asked with a smile that showed the question wasn’t a suggestion as she held out her hand.

Pressing her lips together, Kara took Len’s hand in hers.  The blonde nodded at her daughter who took hold of the picnic basket while Liam took his Mommy’s hand.  Together, the four of them made their way across the field to the picnic table that sat below the tall and wide oak tree.  When they were about thirty feet out Kara stopped and the rest of the family with her.  As the blonde stepped forward, Lori let go of the basket and took Lena’s hand; both children pressed closely to their Mommy.

Pulling her glasses off her face, Kara examined the lone figure that stood and stepped away from the table.  The hero’s gaze drifted up and down this other person’s form looking for anything out of place, out of the ordinary, mainly anything that could be a danger to her family.  Kara wasn’t here for herself.  She was here for the role she played so often, as a protector.  Today it was personal though.  Today she was here to protect something that meant more to her than the whole Earth.  Today Kara meant to keep her family safe.

After finding nothing of danger on this other person, and doing a sweep of the table and the surrounding area, Kara turned and gave a nod to Lena and the kids.  Lena’s small smile as her grip on the children relaxed and they stepped forward was a reward.  The family all moved forward, Lori holding tightly to her Mommy as she sensed the tension in her parents.  Liam was excited, bouncing slightly and happy to see another part of his family.

As they stopped a few feet out, the lone figure said, “Lena, Kara, thank you both for coming and bringing them today.  God, look at them.  They’re growing like weeds.  I’d swear they were a foot taller than when I saw them last, so beautiful, too.  Pictures and face-timing don’t do you children justice.”

With a sincere smile, Lena said, “Hello, Mother.  You look well.  The kids are excited to see you today.  Liam, Lorelai, would you like to go say hello to, Grandma?”

“Yes!” Liam said with an excited bounce, skipping a half step forward.

Lorelai merely nodded, biting at her lower lip in a way that made her look entirely like her Mommy.  Only blue eyes, reminiscent of the sky after the storm has ended, spoke to the other part of her biology in this moment.

As Lena released his hand, Liam surged forward but only got three steps before meeting with Kara’s rigid hand. 

The blonde knelt, staring very seriously into the eyes of her son as she said, “Buddy, gentle hands just like we practice.  I know you’re excited to see your grandma, but we need to be gentle with people.” Kara glanced over at Lillian for a moment, her expression unreadable, before she returned her gaze to her son and said, “We never want to hurt anyone, especially the people we love, okay?”

“Okay, Mama,” he replied, blond curls bouncing as he nodded, his face quite serious.  When Kara held up a fist, he bumped one against it before being released and doing a skip, the same foot continuously in front of the other, up into the waiting arms of a kneeling Lillian Luthor.

“Oh, there’s my big boy.  I can’t believe how much you’ve grown,” Lillian said, squeezing Liam fiercely while he warmed under the attention.  She pushed him out to arm’s length, her smile nearly ear to ear as she said, “Seriously, Liam, you’ll be taller than me soon.  What are they feeding you?”

“Ice cream!” He replied with great joy, causing a chuckle of laughter to ripple through the others like a wave.  Very seriously he nodded.  “Grandma, ice cream is the best food ever.  Have you had ice cream?”

“Oh, I have,” Lillian agreed, schooling her face to match his level of severity.  “What’s your favorite flavor?”

Eyes wide, Liam shook his head quickly.  “Don’t ask that.”

While Lillian looked on, perplexed, Lori approached and explained, “He’s telling you not to make him pick a favorite.  He subscribes to Mama’s theory that ice cream flavors are like your children.  You shouldn’t pick favorites.”

“Oh.” Looking over at Kara, Lillian’s face was unreadable before she returned her gaze to her granddaughter and said, “Your mama is very wise.  No favorites, indeed.  Hello, Lorelai.”

“Hello, Grandma,” Lori said, stepping close and hugging her grandmother gently. 

As they stepped apart, Lillian studied her granddaughter.  “Lori, you look like you want to ask me something.  Do you?”

“I…” Lori glanced back at her parents, neither of whom gave any indication of their feelings on the matter, but then looked to her grandmother and said, “I’m hungry.  Can we eat now?”

“Of course,” Lillian replied.  “If that’s what you children want.”

“Grandma, we have cake for dessert!” Liam explained with glee as he bounced over to the picnic table and took a seat.

“Oh, what kind of cake?” Lillian asked with a chuckle.

“Birthday cake!”

“She means what flavor,” Lori added with an eye roll.

Running her fingers through the little boy’s curls, Lillian said, “I imagine, much like ice cream there is no such thing as a bad cake flavor.  Does that sound right?”

Tugging his grandma’s sleeve until she sat next to him and bent down to get closer, Liam whispered though a bit too loudly, “I don’t like Kale.  I wouldn’t eat it even in cake.”

“I can hear you, Mr. Liam,” Lena said as she laid out plates on the picnic table, her gaze wandering over to her wife.  “I wonder whose fault that is.”

Head pulling back reflexively at the accusing glare, Kara replied, “What?  Why is it my fault kale is gross?  The boy has good taste.”

Arms crossed, Lena accused, “The problem isn’t the flavor of kale, which is fine by the way.  The problem is when he tried a piece that was perhaps ¼ of an inch squared and spit it out immediately, you patted his head and said, ‘That’s my boy.’  You’re rewarding him for refusing to eat vegetables.”

“I like kale,” Lori chimed in from her seat on her grandmother’s other side.

“Thank you, thank you Lorelai,” Lena said a bit smugly.

“You pay her,” Kara countered as she pulled food out of the picnic basket.  “I know for a fact that her allowance has gone up with her vegetable intake.  In this family, greens equals green.”

“Well, forgive me for rewarding our children for eating healthy foods.  My love is not conditional on their vegetable intake, but their health is.  I’ve made the decision to spend our money on healthy food and rewards for such while you’re keeping Ben and Jerry in business.”

“Ugh.” Kara put down a container of potato salad on the table with a bit too much force, causing the lid to pop off.  “I’m healthy.  I can eat what I want, the children and I can eat what we want, and we’re healthy.  We don’t have to eat gross food, and I’m sorry Lena, but kale is gross.”

“Yes, Lena, kale is gross,” Liam mimicked.

Head swiveling, Lena’s attention snapped to her four-year-old who had just called her by her first name.

“Oooooh,” Lori said, a small smile forming on her face even as she bit at her bottom lip.

Before anyone else could speak, quiet laughter drew everyone’s attention to Lillian.  The woman covered her mouth as she averted her eyes, taking a moment to school her features to neutrality again.  “So, Liam, what do you have in your backpack today?”

“My science project,” Liam said digging around in his backpack and withdrawing a shoe box.  “Aunt Alex helped some ’cause she’s a doctor.  We had to make them in shoeboxes.  Mommy has lots of shoeboxes.”

“Ladies need a lot of shoes,” Lori explained.

“You don’t have that many shoes, Lori.  Are you a lady?” Liam asked.

Brow furrowed, Lori turned to her parents, “Mommy, can I get some new shoes?”

“Lori, your feet are still growing.  You don’t need new shoes,” Lena explained.

“But she eats her kale,” Kara reminded her wife.

“Really?  You went there, Kara?” Pulling out her phone, Lena held it up to her wife.

“Awww, no, not now honey I—”

“Phone,” Lena repeated, wiggling her phone around as she stepped several feet to the side and began to tap rather angrily on the keys.

Shoulders drooping, Kara took out her phone and slumped after Lena, wincing as she read the first text to appear.

“Is everything all right?” Lillian whispered over to Lori.

Lori nodded.  “They’re just fighting.  When they fight, we can tell because it gets quiet around the house.  All we can hear is the sound of buttons on their phones.  Then you don’t hear anything for a while.  Sometimes someone cries, usually Mama because Mommy almost never cries, but Mama cries at like commercials and puppies and stuff.  Then you hear buttons again.  Then they talk.  Then Mama cries some more.  Sometimes they go on dates, or we have to go to our cousin’s house.”

“Does it happen a lot?” Lillian asked casually over her shoulder while she admired the double helix DNA model Liam held out with pride.

“Nah,” Lori replied, “Sometimes they disagree about school stuff, but the last time they fought was about Mommy getting pregnant again.  I heard them having an out loud argument when I was supposed to be asleep.  Mama thought it was ‘too risky’ after what happened when Liam was born.”

Stiffening, Lillian, slowly turned to her granddaughter and asked, “What exactly happened that upset your Mama?  I mean, that was almost five years ago so…”  Lillian waited, trying to look casual.

“I don’t remember,” Lori said with a shrug.  “I was only three.  I know Mama blames herself for not being there to stop the man who sprayed Mommy with chemicals and made her sick and have Liam early.”

“Liam was premature,” Lillian stated, though she waited for confirmation.

“I guess.  His baby pictures are really tiny.  Mama couldn’t hold him.  They kept him in the incubator in the DEO under sun lamps with all these tubes strapped to him.  There are pictures of her holding him when he got a little bigger and she’s crying.  Like I said; Mama cries a lot.”

Stroking Liam’s head again, Lillian looked down at the little boy who enthusiastically was describing his project.  An array of emotions played along her face before she turned back to her granddaughter again.  “And where was your mommy during all of this?”

“Sick.”

“Sick.”

Lori nodded.

“Excuse me.”  Walking over to where Kara and Lena exchanged a silent text argument, Lillian cleared her throat.  When the coupled looked at her, Lillian said, “Liam was premature?”

Kara and Lena both seemed confused, but Lena nodded and said, “Yes, but he’s—”

“Is your pregnancy high risk?” Lillian asked, not letting Lena finish.

“Oh, good lord, not you too,” Lena grumbled.

“See,” Kara said, holding out her hand at Lillian.  “Even she understands.”

“Actually, I don’t,” Lillian replied.  “Why don’t you educate me?  I’ve seen the pictures of Kara showing her pregnant, and I know those are faked with advanced hologram technology, but I don’t know how far along my daughter is or anything about abnormalities in Liam’s pregnancy.  What happened?”

“Yes, tell your mother what happened, Lena, and why everyone else is so concerned,” Kara said, arms crossed while she stared at her wife.

“I…you…” Looking at her children who were watching the adults with rapt attention, Lena smiled and pointed at the table.  “Why don’t you kids get some food and dig in.  We’ll be right along.”  When the children did just that, Lena hissed, “This is not the time.”

“Okay, then we’ll just talk about it tomorrow.” Slapping the palm of her hand against her forehead, Kara said, “Wait, silly me.  We can’t talk about it tomorrow.  Your mother is a wanted felon, and we’re only cleared to see her once a year.  I guess we talk about it now.”

“You know, you’re not at your most attractive right now, Mrs. Luthor,” Lena pointed out.

“I’m not worried about being attractive.  I’m worried about my wife and my child.  I’ve been worried since you declared you wanted another child.”

“Enough bickering,” Lillian snapped.  “What’s going on?”

“Tell her,” Kara demanded.

“It’s nothing, Mother.  Liam’s fine, and I’m fine.  This pregnancy is normal.”

Kara snorted.  “Oh, just tell her already, Lena.  I wanted to tell her when it happened.  She deserved to know.”

“You kept something from me, Lena?”

Glaring at her wife, Lena spoke to her mother, “It wasn’t relevant.”

“Right, right,” Kara said with mock sincerity.  “Lena and Liam almost died, but it wasn’t relevant.  Who’s hungry?”

“Tell me right now!” Lillian demanded.

“Fine.” Pointing to her wife, Lena added, “We’re talking about this tonight.”

“Oh, you bet we are.”

“Mother, there was a little incident at my work when I was pregnant and—”

“By incident, she means chemical bomb,” Kara supplied.

Lena glared again for several moments, then met her mother’s stare again.  “Yes, a bomb, which did not go off.  I had employees trapped in a lab, and we couldn’t override security in time to get them out before the bomb dispersed throughout the ventilation system, so I disarmed it.  That’s all.”

“It leaked.”

“Jesus Christ, Kara,” Lena said between gritted teeth.  “I’m having a perfectly normal pregnancy except for the stress you’re putting me under today.”

“What did it leak?  What happened?  Is Liam…?” Lillian looked back at the kids who were eating sandwiches and having a battle of some kind with chips, seemingly ignoring the adults.

Grasping her mother’s arm to draw attention to herself again, Lena assured, “Fine, Mom, he’s fine.  He was small and needed time to grow, but food, fluids, and time under a sun lamp and his Kryptonian DNA kept him safe.  I had some complications.”

“Acute pyelonephritis,” Kara supplied.

“Kidney failure?” Lillian asked.  “You inhaled a chemical that gave you kidney failure?”

Kara stepped closer and began to fill in details.  “Whatever it was exactly, began to adversely affect and raise her progesterone levels.  At first, she seemed fine, but she started to complain of back pain.  We thought it was just normal pregnancy stuff, or maybe Braxton Hicks contractions.  Then her fever spiked.  I got a call that she had collapsed at work and had been taken to the hospital.”

“It resulted in sepsis and preterm labor,” Lillian guessed.

Kara nodded.

“How…?” Lillian licked her lips, swallowing loudly.  “How early was he?”

“Twenty-six weeks,” Kara said.

“And how—?”

“He was fourteen inches long and weighed 1.7 pounds,” Lena added.

“1.68 pounds,” Kara corrected her.  “He was so tiny.  His feet weren’t even as long as my fingers.  We’d moved them to the DEO before Lena went into labor, thank Rao.  A hospital wouldn’t have been able to take care of him.  We had to feed him with tubes at first because he couldn’t suck and breathe at the same time.  He could barely cry for the first few days.  He got strong fast though.  I remember the first time I heard him cry.  His Aunt Alex was holding a little piece of kryptonite by his ankle so she could get a blood draw.  I was holding his leg just to make sure he stayed steady, and when she stabbed him, he cried.”  Kara ran a finger under her glasses, pulling them back covered in moisture.  “I wept because he cried.  His little lungs were getting so much stronger, and I wept.  I knew if he could cry he was going to be okay.  I just didn’t know if Lena would be.”

“It was just pneumonia, Kara.”

“You were on a ventilator, Lena.  Your kidneys were failing, and so were your lungs.  I brought you pictures of Liam every day, but I wouldn’t promise you he’d be okay.” Kara shook her head, looking down at the ground.  “I just kept telling you that he needed you.  I said you had to fight to get back to him to take care of him.  I wasn’t letting you off the hook, not letting you leave me with those babies.  I wasn’t ready to be left alone again.”

“Hey, Kara, hey, look at me,” Lena said stepping close and wrapping her arms around her wife’s neck, nuzzling the other woman with her nose until their gazes met.  “I’m not planning on going anywhere anytime soon.  I’ll be around for another fifty years.  Promise.”

“Sixty,” Kara countered.  “Promise me sixty years.”

“Sixty?  Well now…” When Lena tried to step away, she was pulled back in by her wife but merely grinned.  “Well, if it’s going to be sixty years, I’ll need some help staying healthy.  You’ll have to start eating kale.”

“Kale.” Kara spat the word, her face screwing up in disgust even as Lena chuckled.  Nodding, a smile grew on the blonde’s face, one she pressed into her wife’s lips as she whispered, “Worth it.”


	3. Strange Bedfellows

“What do you think is going on over there?” Maggie asked as she gestured across the field with her chin.

“The love birds or the odd third-party observer?” Alex asked.

“Oh, I’m used to your sister and her boss.  I’ve just never seen them so snuggly in front of Lillian before.  It seems…weird.  It seems weird, right?”

Alex nodded.

“I told you; she’s making progress.  You kids don’t get it, but she isn’t who you think she is.  Don’t judge her on her past.  There’s a lot you don’t understand,” Jeremiah said.

Eyeing Maggie for a moment, Alex stepped closer to her father and placed a hand on his elbow.  “Look, Dad, I know you have to work pretty closely with Lillian, but don’t forget who she is.  The woman kidnapped you.”

“Technically she saved my life after Hank stabbed me,” Jeremiah responded.

“Uh…only technically.  Still, she held you against your will for years and let us think you were dead.  You had to work with Hank until he was captured.  That had to have been awful.”

“It was difficult,” Jeremiah admitted.  “Though I stopped working with Hank before his capture.  He left Cadmus.  Hank didn’t agree with the changes Cadmus was making, so his split with the organization was necessary.  We’re definitely on a better path now.”

“We’re?” Alex asked.

“Alex, Cadmus now—”

“Dad, you just said ‘we’re’ regarding Cadmus like you’re part of them.  Dad, what the fuck!?”

“Babe, chill,” Maggie said, rubbing a circle on Alex’s back.

“Well, I am a member.”

“Because you were kidnapped!”

“Not technically.  Technically, Lillian—”

“Jesus fucking Christ, Dad!” Alex threw her arms into the air, allowing them to fall to her sides again.  “I don’t want to hear any technicalities.  I know what happened.  You went on a mission, and you never came home again.  I thought you were dead.  Mom thought you were dead.  Kara, the little girl who lost her whole planet, thought you were dead because Lillian Luthor had you for a dozen years.  That’s kidnapped!”

Jeremiah stood silently studying his daughter for several moments before asking, “Alex, how’s AA going?”

“What?  Fine, it’s fine.  Why would you ask me that?”

“Because, sweetie, I know that in the past, when you’ve been having problems with alcohol, you also have problems with your temper.  Are you still making meetings?” Jeremiah asked.

Alex eyed her wife who merely held up her hands and shook her head.  “Jesus.” Reaching into her pocket, Alex tugged out a bronze coin and held it up between two fingers, showing it to her father.  “Eight years, Dad.  This is my eight-year chip.  That first year was tough, but Maggie and the kids…I haven’t had a relapse again, and I’ve been clean for eight years now.  You’d know that if you came home.”

“I’m proud of you sweetie,” Jeremiah said, laying a hand on his daughter’s shoulder.  “I’m doing important work, though.  We’re bringing peace about.”

Shoving the chip back into her pocket, Alex said, “Okay, but is that why you’re still there?”

“What else could there be?”

“Alex, don’t do this here today,” Maggie warned.

Tugging free from where her wife had grabbed her arm again, Alex said, “Are you there because you think you’re converting Lillian, or because she’s converted you?  Are you worried about my alcohol addiction, or should we be worried about your Stockholm Syndrome?”

“Stockholm Syndrome,” Jeremiah said with a laugh.  “That’s ridiculous.”

“Really?  Because from where I stand it makes perfect sense.  A woman finds you, saves your life, keeps you captive for years by threatening your family because she knows about Kara.  You end up making deals with her to do less evil things like sending a spaceship filled with aliens away instead of killing those aliens.”

“Alex, come on I—”

“Dad, I’m serious.  When was the last time you and Mom were in the same place when it wasn’t for one of the kids’ birthdays or something?  Have you even asked to visit her in Midvale?”

Sighing, Jeremiah said, “Alex, adult relationships are complicated.”

“Dad, I’m not five!  I’m forty, and I have children of my own.  Are you fucking Lillian Luthor?”

“Whoa!” Maggie said, stepping between father and daughter and trying physically to persuade Alex away.  “Babe, language.”

“No, I’m serious.  Are you sleeping with Lillian Luthor, Dad?”

“That is none of your business, Alexandra.”

“And that isn’t a no!”

“Alex, stop!” Maggie said, pushing her full body into Alex’s and pressuring her wife back.  “There are too many tensions already today.  Don’t add to them.”

Nodding, Alex turned and walked away, taking a moment to clear her head.  Her hand went to her pocket again.  It stayed there where the muscles in her arm tensed and relaxed in reaction to the stroking movement of her digits.  It was a familiar movement, one nearly eight years old now, and one that brought calm when life seemed to be spinning out of control.  In the past, she’d reach for a bottle to calm herself.  Now she reached for the reminder that she didn’t need one.

Turning and walking back to her wife and father, she said, “Thanks, babe.”

Maggie nodded in return.  “We good?”

“We’re good,” Alex replied, kissing her wife briefly as they both smiled.  Meeting her dad’s gaze again, Alex asked, “Did you know Mom was…seeing someone from work?”

Jeremiah stiffened, an odd series of expressions passing over his face almost like the five stages of grief occurring in less than a minute.  The last was, of course, acceptance.  “Alex, it’s been two dozen years.  You’re mother’s a beautiful, intelligent, engaging woman.  What woman like her would wait for anyone this long?  She should have moved on long ago.  I’m sorry she didn’t.”  After a moment of standing in awkward silence with his daughter and daughter-in-law, he asked, “What’s he like?”

“He’s a widower.”

Jeremiah nodded.  “Did he kill his wife?”

“Wh…what!?” Alex took a half step back into Maggie’s steadying hand.

Jeremiah shrugged.  “Well, if he’s not homicidal, he’s better company than I’ve been keeping, so bravo for her.”

As a smile formed on his lips, tension eased from the group.  There were some chuckles and shaking of heads.  When people were able to speak again, the atmosphere seemed different.  Tightness was gone, and a dark cloud seemed to have been lifted.

“That was good,” Maggie noted.

“Thanks,” Jeremiah replied.  “We try to keep it light at Cadmus.  You know, if we can’t make world domination and murder jokes, who can?”

Alex’s smile was the lightest of the group, but she managed to ask, “Dad, seriously, are you and Lillian…?”

“No, Alex, we’re not.  We’re coworkers, that’s all.  I mean, I’m a married man so—”

“Not legally,” Alex said, watching her dad stop and wait for the rest of her comment.  “Dad, you were declared dead years ago, so legally, you’re not married.  That means neither is Mom.”

“Right, I know that.  There’s just a difference between not being married because people are thinking you’re dead and getting a divorce.  I mean, I’ve always known I was alive so…but, I guess I’m not actually married, am I?”

“No, you’re not,” Alex replied.  “Neither is Lillian.  She is a widow.”

There was another awkward silence that no one tried to fill.

Finally, Alex asked, “Did she kill…?”

Jeremiah waited, but then he realized the topic and guessed, “Lionel?”

Alex nodded.

“No,” he replied with assurance.

“How do you know?” Maggie piped up.

“She told me.  He died of natural causes.”

“She could have been lying,” Alex reminded him.

“Alex, if Lillian Luthor could threaten someone with anyone else’s murder, she’d do it.  Anyway, she was drunk off her ass when she told me.”

For a moment, Alex and Maggie shared an incredulous look before Alex said, “Lillian gets drunk?”

“Off her ass,” Maggie added.  “You said off her ass, Dad.”

“Oh, I know what I said.  It was memorable.  We’d just finished a major project, and she showed up late at night in the lab with this wooden box.  I was expecting electronics, but she opened it up, and there were bottles of wine inside.  I hadn’t even noticed the wine glasses in her hand until then.”

“Ah, drunk on wine.  That makes more sense,” Maggie said.  “I bet it was some expensive French crap too.”

“Well, it was tasty.  I told her it was tasty, and you should have seen her eyebrows go up.  You would have thought I spit in her face, but to be fair she looks at people that way a lot anyway.  She said she was saving the wine for a special occasion, and this day was doubly special.”

“What was it?” Alex asked.

“Well, the project, like I said,” Jeremiah supplied.  “It was also the twentieth anniversary of Lionel’s death.  I was two glasses in when I asked her the question.”

“The question?”

Nodding at Maggie, Jeremiah said, “I asked if she killed him.  She just snorted and said, ‘Oh, I was tempted many a time, the two-timing son of a bitch.  No, I actually loved him, and he was the father of my children…and probably many others.  No, believe it or not, he died of natural causes.  He had a stroke.  He lingered for over a week in the hospital before he died.  They say only the good die young, but they’re wrong.’  Then we drank some more.”

“And she was drunk off her ass,” Maggie said with a laugh.

“Eventually.  She seemed fine until she went to stand up.  That was after the third bottle was empty.  She realized she couldn’t stand and announced, ‘Oh, my God.  I’m drunk off my ass.’  Then she started laughing.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Maggie waved her hands in front of her.  “I love you, Dad, but I’m calling bullshit on this story.  You want to sell us a bridge while you’re at it?”

“Yeah, I’m with Maggie,” Alex agreed.

“I swear to you kids, it’s true.  I’d known the woman for almost twenty years, and I’d never seen her laugh before.  Her smiles all looked like threats.  Seeing her laugh was eerie, like watching Mt. Rushmore shatter.  I swear it happened though,” Jeremiah said, one hand over his heart and the other in the air.  “Once I got over the shock, I started laughing too.  I don’t know why.  Things were just funny.  She started to talk about her family, about Lionel, Lex, Lena, about all the time she didn’t get to spend with Lori and Liam…so many damn L names.  What’s it with that family and L names?  What are they going to name the next baby?”

Maggie and Alex shrugged, mumbled agreement about too many L names and that the next name would probably start with an L because Kara was whipped.

Jeremiah nodded and went back into his story.  “You know, she’s had a lot of loss in her life, too.  I know you see a monster, but she wasn’t born that way.  She was someone’s child once too.  Maybe, with the right guidance, she doesn’t have to leave the world that way either.”

“Hey.” Maggie elbowed Alex.  “You’re dad’s a good guy.”

“Yeah, our dad is a good guy,” Alex replied, giving her wife a nudge in return.  “So, Dad, you and Lillian…”

“It’s not like that, Alex,” Jeremiah assured her.  “We work together, and I respect her.  I know you find that hard to believe, but whether or not you agree with some of the things she does, she does them because she believes she’s maker a safer word for her family.”

“Her grandchildren aren’t entirely human.”

“I know Alex, and so does she.  There’s no more ‘kill all aliens’ agenda coming from Cadmus.  The DEO must know that.  Our agenda isn’t much different than yours.”

“It’s a bit more heavy-handed,” Alex commented.

“Be glad we’re here to do the things you won’t.  The DEO has a nice big budget.  You have the fancy suits and government backing, but we’ll do the necessary things that you aren’t willing to do.  Think of us as The Huntress to your Supergirl,” Jeremiah suggested.

“Who?” Alex asked, her brows furrowed.

“Oh, Alex.” Jeremiah patted his daughter’s arm.  “You need to get out more.  This is a lovely dimension, but there are others that are very interesting and less alien laden.”

“Uh, what’s going on over there now?” Maggie asked, pointing across the field.  “It looks like Liam just flew onto his seat.”

As Jeremiah and Alex turned to look, Alex said, “Holy shit, so did Lori!  Hey, Lena’s hologram projector is off.  Is she…!?”

Leaning forward, Maggie asked, “What are the kids yelling?”

Indeed, one after the other, first Liam and then Lori had leaped to their feet and then onto the picnic table bench seat.  Their jumps had included a little something extra, allowing them to float slightly into the air just above the seat and then settle down.  They were waving and pointing at Lena, who was, in turn, pointing at them and looked to be speaking harshly.  Lena’s hologram projector, which hid her pregnancy, was off and she looked about six months along.  However, it was the children’s voices and one word that was carrying across the field.  “Baby!”

Turning to face each other with wide-eyed panicked stares, Maggie and Alex both said, “Lena’s in labor!”

As the two women raced off, Maggie yelled back, “Jeremiah, stay with the car.  We might need it!”

“You stay with the car!  I’m a doctor!” He yelled running, though not as sprightly as the younger women, across the field.

As the trio arrived at the group near the picnic bench, Lena was speaking in terse tones to her children, “…better than that in public.  We’re disappointed, aren’t we Kara?”

“I agree with your mother,” Kara replied.

Lena did a double take, a not entirely cartoon looking double take.  If The CEO wasn’t in labor, that phrase might have done the trick.  “You…you…What did you just say!?”

Kara nodded.  “A daily urine test to check your progesterone levels is a must, but you should be getting weekly blood work also.”

Lillian was nodding along.  “Thank you, Kara.  It’s nice to know all those years in med school weren’t wasted.  You know Lena, your progesterone will continue to rise through the thirty-six-week mark, sometimes as far as the thirty-eighth week.  How far along are you now?”

“Twenty-eight weeks,” Kara said before Lena could reply.  “That’s further than we were when Liam was born.”

“What’s going on?  Is she in labor?” Maggie asked as she skidded to a halt by Lena.

“Did your water break?  Are you having any back pain this time?” Alex asked, touching Lena’s forehead with the back of her hand.

“Oh, stop it,” Lena said slapping the hand away.

“Mommy’s going to have a baby!” Liam yelled.

“No, I’m not!” Lena yelled back.

“You’re not?” Lori asked, her head tilted to the side as she pointed toward her mother’s abdomen. “But…?”

“Ugh.  All right, I am but not imminently.”

“Like eminent domain?” Lori asked.

“Is the government going to take our baby?” Liam added.

“Oh, dear God.” Nudging her way past relatives who were all overly interested in her swollen midsection, Lena fished around in the picnic basket until she found what she wanted.  “Ready?” She asked making eye contact with the children.  When they nodded, she pulled out two packets of M&Ms.  “Sit down.” 

“Candy,” they said almost as one, their voices prayer-like.  Immediately the children dropped down onto the benches. 

“Better, now eat quietly, please.” Lena let the candy packets go onto the picnic table, one in front of each child, and turned before she could see them dig in.  She was immediately greeted by another member of her family.

“Candy?” Kara asked with as much enthusiasm and reverence as the children showed.

With a small smile and an eye roll, Lena reached over into the picnic basket again this time pulling out a king size peanut butter cups bar.  Her smile grew at Kara’s widened stare, and she tossed it away saying, “Go long.”

The Kryptonian was gone in a burst of air.  Quickly above the group, she captured the treat and floated back down with a smile on her face.

Lena looked over to see if her mother had even noticed, but Lillian was enraptured with discussing Lena’s medical visits, or lack of them, to the DEO with Jeremiah and Alex.  It was an odd sight this little family of hers, but she’d take it.  When Maggie caught her eye, Lena was all too happy to make her way to her sister-in-law.

“So no labor?” Maggie asked.

“Not yet,” Lena admitted.  “My mother just insisted on seeing me without the projector, and then the children were caught off guard and got excited.  I wouldn’t mind sitting for a bit, though.  My feet and back do get tired.”

Maggie and Lena sat, and the shorter woman said, “Oh, I remember that.  I was so big by the beginning of the third trimester.  By month seven I was done.  I just wanted to get the twins out.  All of their bits were done growing, and I wanted them out.”

“Your morning sickness was awful as I remember.”

“I think I was puking from the time the eggs were fertilized through delivery.  I couldn’t even stand the way Alex smelled.  Everything set me off.”  Maggie’s face screwed up unpleasantly at the memory.

“So, no plans for a little brother or sister for you children?”

“Only if Alex is doing it.  We got a set the first time out the gate, a boy and a girl, so I’m done.  How about you?”

“At least one more, but I’d prefer two,” Lena admitted.

“Motherhood suits you.”

Lena chanced a glance up at the others, but they were still consumed by their own conversation.  “We’re making Kryptonians, well, half-Kryptonians.  Yes, I love my family, and I do rather enjoy pregnancy when it goes as planned.  The children are a joy most of the time.  You know.”

Maggie nodded with a smile that showed deep dimples.

“However, this is for Kara too, and not just because she adores being a mother.  She’s asked me to be around for another sixty years.  Maybe I’ll make it, maybe not.  Who knows?  I know I’ll predecease her by centuries, eons, who knows how long.  The point is, I’ll die; we’ll all die, and she’ll be alone again if not for these children.  She needs family in a way I don’t think she understands yet.”

“But you do,” Maggie said gravely.

“I’ve given it a lot of thought.  When I…” Lena glance over at Kara again before returning back to her conversation.  “When I pass, Kara will be devastated.  It will take a long time before she’ll be able to move on.  We have a plan in place, but she won’t be able to enact it immediately.”

“The surrogate?”

Lena nodded.  “The press has been told that Kara has several eggs frozen for future births.  As she is supposed to be getting older, we’ll time it that a surrogate is supposedly carrying a child for her.  M’gann has agreed to play the role.  That will allow Kara Danvers to pass and her child, who happens to look just like her, to take her place in about twenty years.  Kara may even want to take some time off from being alive.  That’s up to her.”

“If it coincides with losing you, she may need to.  She’ll be okay though, you know?  In the long run, she’ll be okay.  She’ll have J’onn, M’gann, your kids, my kids.  She won’t be alone.”

Lena nodded in agreement. “She’ll fall in love again.  I know she will.  Kara has so much love to give, but she needs to have people around her to keep her in check.  Loss is a dangerous thing, and I should know.  We’ve all seen what happens when Kara doesn’t process loss well.”

“This time she has reason, more reason, to keep herself in check.  She’s going to be all right.  You’re doing the right thing,” Maggie assured her sister-in-law.

“I’m glad someone can see it.”

“Hey, I’m the other rational one in this family of emotional hotheads.  That’s why we get along so well.”  Maggie’s comment got a smile in return.  Feeling like it was time for a subject change, Maggie looked down at Lena’s abdomen and raised a hand asking, “May I?”

Smiling gently, Lena nodded.

Maggie rested a hand on her sister-in-law’s swollen belly.  “You’re lucky.  I wish I had been able to enjoy pregnancy more.  Is everyone freaking out because of what happened last time?”

Lena followed Maggie’s gaze to where it landed on the other four, Alex, Lillian, and Jeremiah having a rather serious medical discussion about her past pregnancy and the possible negative outcome of this one.  Kara had finished her candy quickly and was moving behind the circle of people, nodding while her hands fretted away with the candy wrapper.  The Kryptonian seemed to be playing her role of the expectant mother already.

With a knowing sigh, Lena said, “I know they mean well, but I’m taking precautions, and this is my body.  I listened to Kara and Alex’s input.  I listened to my OBGYN.  Kara and I talked, and she agreed to go ahead with another child.  I don’t know why we’re getting into this again now.”

“Because these people love you, you big dummy,” Maggie replied with a knowing smile as her hand rubbing gently along the Lena’s abdomen.  “They love you, and they love you too, little one, even though they haven’t met you yet.”

“You’re right of course,” Lena admitted.  “I just wish Kara hadn’t gotten my mother into the middle of this.  Now she knows the bombing was an attack on my company because of Cadmus.”

“Oh, I…” Maggie nodded.  “How’d Lillian take that?”

“She wasn’t pleased of course.  She was upset I kept it from her for all these years, but I know my mother.  We’ve been working toward peace, and knowing someone was attacking us over her would have just created vengeance and that would have escalated things.  No, not telling my mother was the right thing.  Even if Kara thinks my mother would have walked away from Cadmus over it, she wouldn’t have.  If she hasn’t yet, she wouldn’t do it for that.”

“Things have gotten better though,” Maggie noted, gesturing toward where Kara, Alex, Jeremiah, and Lillian spoke.  “Ten years ago, would you have even thought that could be possible?”

“Never.  My mother has changed so much since the children have come along.  When she saw that magazine spread with Lori in it…well you can’t imagine how terrified I was to receive a message from my mother about that.  Never mind, you got that phone call from me.  You know how scared I was.  It seemed pleasant, but I thought it was a threat.  Lex had been dead a little over a year at that point.  We never would have been able to start a family with him still out there but…families.  It’s complicated, you know?”

Maggie sat silently for several moments, her hand falling away from Lena and back into her lap where she studied it before saying, “I got a message from my mom on Facebook.”

A small noise came unbidden from Lena as her head snapped back.  “You mean your birth mother, not Eliza, correct?”

Maggie nodded.  “She saw pictures of the twins and reached out to me.  She said they were beautiful.  Hoped I was doing well.” Again there was a pause before Maggie lifted her face, brown eyes meeting green.  “She said my dad asked after me.”

“Oh, my…what did Alex say?”

With a shrug, Maggie replied, “Nothing, I haven’t told her yet.”

Eyebrows high, Lena said nothing.

“You know Alex.  She’s protective, temperamental, and hot-headed.  She’ll fly off the handle.  I haven’t even decided how I’m responding, if I’m responding.”

“How long has it been?”

“Since I got the message?” Maggie asked.

Lena nodded.

“Three weeks, give or take.  You’d think I’d be shocked, angry, happy, you know…something about it.  I got the message and looked at the picture of this old woman, who definitely was not my mother because my mother was not this old woman in my memory, but there she was, and I was like…weird.  It just felt weird.  I keep waiting for the rest of the emotions to hit me.  I closed up Facebook and walked away for a few days.  She hasn’t messaged again, but I’ve looked at the message a few times, and it still just feels weird.  I don’t know…weird.”

“Are you going to respond?  I mean, this is your mother and…” Lena’s gaze shifted again to her mother, this time gesturing toward Kara who was nodding in agreement…yes, weird was a word for it.

“Honestly, I don’t know,” Maggie said pulling Lena’s attention back to her.  “I mean, these folks kicked me out when I was only a few years older than the twins are now.  I can’t imagine my kids doing anything, ever, that would make me abandon them.  My folks didn’t toss me because of anything I did; it was because of who I was.  Now they may want back in, but they don’t want me, they want grandkids.  So, this isn’t about wanting me; this is about wanting something from me.”  Maggie looked away again, but this time just off toward the horizon.  Her eyes drifted not settling on anything, just wandering as her mind did.  “It isn’t even about being angry.  It’s been thirty years.  I won’t say I’ve forgiven them, but I have too much good in my life to give a fuck about people who don’t give a fuck about me.  It’s about my kids.  I might not know who my parents are now, but I know who they were when they let me go.  Are they really the kind of influence I want in my children’s lives?”

Lena waited to see if Maggie would say anything else, if her sister-in-law would even look at her to indicate the question was directed at her, but the woman’s gaze just continued to wander.  Reaching out and taking Maggie’s hand in her own Lena said, “Well then, whatever you decide to do, we’re behind you 100%.  Just let us know how we can support you.  Family, right?”

Facing Lena again, Maggie nodded.  It wasn’t clear if the term family was being used to indicate that Maggie and Lena were family or that family was a madness from which they all suffered, perhaps a driving commonality.  Maybe it was both.  Maggie just squeezed the hand that held hers back, grateful and feeling more grounded again.

“Speaking of family and weird, Kara has her hand on Lillian’s shoulder,” Maggie noted.

Nearly getting whiplash at the speed with which she turned to witness the event, Lena stared open-mouthed for several seconds before she looked at her sister-in-law again.  “Maybe they’re trying to induce my labor.  If they are, they’re on the right track.”

Maggie laughed.  “I’m glad I’m not the only one who’s seeing it.  I had this great mushroom burrito for breakfast, and I was beginning to think the mushrooms weren’t quite right.”

With a knowing smile, Lena replied, “I like to think that we’re in an alternate reality, one where my mother, my wife, your wife, and our father-in-law all agree on something.  It happened when we entered the energy dome.  It’s an altered world, like a bubble, and we need to be careful because we could burst it and go back into our own world.”

“Ah, and when we leave this bubble, things will return to normal?”

“Sadly yes.  On the other side of the bubble, my mother runs Cadmus.  Jeremiah works by her side, and our wives work for the DEO and will arrest them on sight if they get the chance…outside of officially approved visits of course.”

“You know, that thought puts my little family drama into perspective.”

“Not at all,” Lena countered.  “For all their faults, my mother and Jeremiah really have done what they’ve done believing it’s in the best interests of their children.  They may be wildly off base—”

“They are.”

“Agreed, but they’re not selfish or self-serving.  It took me a long time to get there.  I may not respect my mother’s ideals or the way she parents, but I respect the fact that she does.”

“Damn,” Maggie said hanging her head before lifting it and meeting Lena’s gaze again.  “Did you just say that Lillian Luthor is a better mother than mine?”

“Oh…no, I just meant—”

“Hey, it’s okay sweetie.  You may not be wrong.  It’s a sobering thought, but it may be accurate.”  Maggie lifted her chin, giving a backward nod toward the others again.  “Here comes Kara.”

Indeed the blonde bounced up, somehow managing to look both sheepish and pleased with herself at the same time.  “I’m hungry.”

“That hardly makes the evening news,” Lena drawled, one eyebrow raised.  “Sit down and eat, darling.  What did you really come here to tell us?”

“Well…” Kara looked back over her shoulder, receiving nods of support, so she smiled at her wife again.  “Everyone loves you, and they’re concerned about you, about you and the baby.”

“Uh-huh,” Lena said resting her elbows on the picnic table as she leaned back.

“We think, all of us that is, that you should be having monthly doctor visits at least at the DEO…bi-weekly would be better.”

“Bi-weekly,” Lena said deadpan.

Kara nodded. “For the baby.”

“Kara, that’s blackmail.”

“For me?” Kara added, pouting.

Pointing at her wife, Lena turned to Alex, Lillian, and Jeremiah and said, “Do you see this?  Did you three send her over to do this?”

“Yes.  For some reason when you refuse to see reason, you respond to…that,” Lillian said making a waving gesture with the back of her hand.  “You find her utterly disarming.  It’s a weakness, Lena.”

“It’s love, Mother.”

“Yes, but it seems to have the same effect.” However, when Lillian said it her gaze swept over to her grandchildren and something softened on her countenance.

“So you agree with Kara, all of you?” Lena asked.

Three heads nodded.

“I want to hear it.  I want to hear my mother say it.”

“I agree,” Lillian replied.

“With whom?”

“So childish,” Lillian replied with an eye roll.  “Fine, I agree with Kara.  You should go into the DEO at least once a month, though preferably every other week, for a full exam on yourself and the health of the fetus.  Was that clear?”

Leaning close to her sister-in-law, Maggie whispered, “Alternate universe.”

With a small smile in response to Maggie’s comments, Lena just said, “Fine.”

“Fine?” Kara asked. “Fine as in you’ll do it without further argument or negotiation?  I mean, great awesome even, just…surprising.”

“Kara, you and my mother agree on something.  The odds of that happening are much worse than hitting Powerball.  I may be a woman of science, but I can tell when the universe is trying to give me a hint.”

“Sweet!” Kara smiled leaning in close and kissing her wife.  “I love you.  Now, let’s eat!  I’m starving.”

“Still not film at eleven,” Maggie said with a laugh.

As people gathered around the table again, and the newcomers began to leave, Lillian asked, “Why don’t you join us?  I’m sure there’s plenty of food.  There always is.”

“Well, I could eat,” Jeremiah said as he sat down, lifting Liam and placing the boy into a sitting position on the bench.

Alex and Maggie paused awkwardly, not sure how to react.

“Come and join us too,” Lena said to Alex and Maggie.  “We do have a ton of food, and I’m sure your sister could be persuaded to give up two of her sandwiches, Alex.”

“Two of my sandwiches?” Kara said with obvious concern.

“Well…we could split one,” Maggie offered.

“One of my sandwiches?”

“Well, if you’re offering Kara’s food…how can we refuse?” Alex said with a cheeky grin as she took a seat next to her sister.

“But I…no, Maggie won’t eat my food.  I have bacon in my sandwiches.  Maggie, you’ll have to eat some of Lena’s vegan healthy foo-foo food.”

“Sweet, I get a sandwich all to myself,” Alex said digging into the picnic basket.

“Didn’t think that through, did you, Super Luthor,” Maggie said patting the blonde’s arm as she walked by and took a seat next to her wife.

As they all sat eating, chatting casually, Lori leaned over to her grandmother and asked, “Grandma, what’s Medusa?”

Everyone froze, and you could have heard a pin drop even if you weren’t a Kryptonian.

“Medusa,” Lillian repeated.  “Where did you hear that word?”

Lori hesitated, chancing a glance over at her parents before meeting her grandmother’s gaze head on again. “Ummm, well, one of the girls at school showed me a video.  When I asked Mama and Mommy, they said Medusa was a virus and that Mommy saved everyone.  Mama said it was something brave she did to prove she was a good person.”

Lillian nodded.  “Your parents are right.  Medusa was a virus and one of the biggest mistakes I ever made.  Your Mommy fixed it and saved countless lives in the process.  She also proved she was cleverer than me.  Do you ever play chess with your Mommy?”

“Ugh.  I always lose.”

With the smallest sound that could have been a laugh, Lillian admitted, “So do I.  She started beating me when she wasn’t much older than you, and I haven’t won since, not really.  Your Mommy is quite the strategist.  You can learn a lot from her.”

Tossing her head to the side and almost glaring at Lena, Lori replied, “So she tells me.”

That got laughs from around the table.

“Well, I brought my chess board today,” Lillian said.  “Perhaps you can show me what you’ve learned in the past year.”

Perking up, Lori smiled at her grandmother.  “I might beat you.”

Running a hand along the girl’s hair, Lillian replied, “Oh, my darling, I hope you do.”


End file.
